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well, i've heard Mandrake 8.1 was the easiest to start with. personally i started with SuSE 6.1. Mandrake is supposed to be the easiest to install and use. that would be my recommendation, but linux isn't something that makes you 1337. most people i've seen crash on installation. so i suggest reading a lot about linux and have a basic understanding of what it is and capable of. I'm still in the process of learning this system too!

Linux is compiled in C so if you want to get the full advantage of having open source code to learn from or to tweak with, i would also learn C/C++.

SuSE, RedHat, and Mandrake are all good installations to start with. I use RedHat 7 on a junker box, and SuSE on this one. I'm having some problems with SuSE, but I think it's the machine, not the OS. It wasn't exactly built to be Linux compatible. I have also had some problems with RedHat on this box. However, I have never had any problems with it on my junker box, and only reboot it about every month or so. The only reason I do it that often is that it has next to no memory, and even Linux seems to leak a little bit. I have used Mandrake briefly, and wasn't too impressed, although it is easy. If you want to truly learn Linux withoug having it handed to you on a silver platter, RedHat would probably be your best bet. When you get good, you can challenge yourself and stick Slackware on. I'm getting ready to do that myself.

I think we need to make a tutorial on starting with Linux, with info on distributions, installation, and such. I'm getting tired of answering these "which distro" questions. Maybe I'll make one soon if I get enough time on my hands.

Hello, LiquidFlame, as was stated above, there have been more than a few failed linux installs. There is no single best version to start off with since there are so many great distros lately. I personally started with mandrake 8.1 just a few months ago, and after a rocky install, things are running very smoothly now. Dont be fooled into believing that you should run a certain distro because itr is more "leet". Any version of linux is leet enough. Welcome to the darkside.

Another site

I had posted this URL in another thread. I hope it will be usefull here. It is one of the most usefull Linux sites I have found to date. Simple and to the point. No bells or whistles.http://www.ctssn.com/

I have played with Debian (ouch) and Mandrake (great). May favorite is SuSe. It's a bit of fun setting up a PPP (with a hammer). Other than that, I like it. Mandrake would be a good start if you have never got to "play" with Tux. It's very user freindly and will walk you thruogh it or you can customize it as you go with practice. Another opinion, get you a copy of Partition Magic 7. It handles it all from Ext2 and Linux Swap partitions to NTFS. It has saved my ass many times........

gentlemen,
Msmittens wrote a few excellent tutorials on linux. go to the tutorials section, and check out the index by negative to find them.

As for which distro to use...everyone as their favorites, so opinions don't really count in this case, My suggestion is to try quite a few of the distro's and find out which one you like best. there is a give and take with each one. There are "harder" distro's to learn, but they may come easy to you, so don't limit yourself in what you choose.
check here for a list of distro's: www.linux.org/dist/english.html

Antionline in a nutshell
\"You\'re putting the fate of the world in the hands of a bunch of idiots I wouldn\'t trust with a potato gun\"

THese guys are pretty much right. REdHat is good for beginners who want to learn linux. However with no knowledge it can be hard. I recommend installing Madnrake 8.1, it is very easy but will get you used to linux then you can try upgrading to RedHat. THis will make is muh easier.

For Mandrake 8.1: Ifyou have a cable/DSL and a cd-burner getting Mandrake is easy. Just point your browser to ftp://ftp.stealth.net/pub/mirrors/ft...m/mandrake/iso and download the first file. I downloadedd it at 380 KB/sex along with others. After about 20 min the file finishes. THen use your cd-burner to write that image to the file. (Use your burner programs image to cd command) put it in your machine and reboot tada you are done!